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This book was evaluated in many times and rewritten by expatriate consultants and local experts. Individual lessons were trialled in secondary schools, government and nongovernment, urban and rural, in different parts of the country. This was followed by a syllabus and textbook revision workshop held for secondary school teachers and English language specialists at the National Curriculum textbook Board in Dhaka after which further revisions were made.
Prescribed by the National Curriculum & Textbook Board as a Textbook for Class Eight from the academic year 2013 ENGLISH FOR TODAY Class Eight Writers M S Hoque Yasmin Banu Surajit Roy Majumder Md Abdur Razzaque Naina Shahzadi Nargis Akhter Banu Editor Abdus Subhan National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Dhaka Published by National Curriculum & Textbook Board 69-70, Motijheel Commercial Area, Dhaka [All rights reserved by the Publisher] Trial Edition First Publication : September, 2012 Coordinator Mohammad Humayun Kabir Computer Compose Perform Color Graphics (Pvt.) Ltd Cover Sudarshan Bachar Sujaul Abedeen Illustrations Ujjal Ghose Design National Curriculum and Textbook Board For free distribution from academic year 2010 by the Government of Bangladesh Printed by : Preface The secondary curriculum has been revised in the light of National Education Policy 2010, which emphasises learning English as an international languag e for communicating locally and globally The 'English For Today' textbooks have been developed to help students attain competency in all four language skills, i.e listening, speaking, reading and writing The development of curriculum, syllabus and textbook is a continuous process In continuation of it, this book has been developed and rationally evaluated by a group of experts, which included curriculum specialists, subject specialists, teacher trainers and classroom teachers The contents and illustrations of this book have been developed in order to suit the learners' age and cognitive level In this book effective communicative approach and techniques integrated with existing traditional methods have been introduced The book emphasizes practicing language skills through a variety of meaningful and enjoyable activities The publication of teacher's guide is under process The teacher's guide will help the teachers to plan the lessons more effectively and teach the students communicatively through teaching learning activities My heartfelt gratitude goes to the curriculum developers, writers, illustrators and coordinator who worked under tremendous time constraints Without their sincerity, commitment and hard work, it would not have been possible for NCTB to develop the English textbook 'English For Today', making it available to teachers and students all over the country by january 2013 As the textbook was developed within a very limited time, there is room for further development Attempts have been made to make the book free from errors as far as possible Any constructive suggestions for the improvement of the textbook will be welcomed and incorporated in future editions I also sincerely thank all involved in the production and publication of this textbook If this book is used properly, the textbook will no doubt facilitate learning English at the desired level Professor Md Mostafa Kamaluddin Chairman National Curriculum and Textbook Board Dhaka Table of contents Unit Topic Page Unit Going on a foreign trip 1-17 Unit Food and nutrition 18-25 Unit Health and hygiene 26-41 Unit Check your reference 42-51 Unit Making a difference 52-66 Unit A glimpse of our culture 67-75 Unit Different people, different occupations 76-85 Unit News! News! News! Unit Things that have changed our life 86-101 102-120 Unit One Going on a foreign trip After we have studied this unit, we will be able to listen for information listen to and follow announcements read and understand texts ask and answer questions write answers to questions write the main ideas English For Today Lesson 1: At the airport Key words: lounge immigration A Look at the picture and talk about it What you see? Can you guess where it could be? Who are the people in the picture? What could be their relationship? B Now read the text and find out if your guesses are correct Zara lives with her parents in London They have come to Bangladesh to visit Zara’s aunt and uncle She is very close to her cousin Mita Both the families have visited many interesting places together in Bangladesh It was a great fun Then they decided that they would visit some places outside Bangladesh too They decided to go to Thailand But Mita’s parents were too busy with their work, so they could not go However, Mita was going with them Mita, Zara and her parents are at Hajrat Shahjalal International Airport They are waiting in the lounge Mita is very excited This is her first time to board a plane They are flying by Bangladesh Biman Mita is hoping to have a great time in Thailand Going on a foreign trip As they wait, the two cousins start planning what they would once they reach Bangkok Mita’s uncle brings forms for all of them to fill in before going through the immigration He gives one to Mita and says, “You have to give some information about yourself in the form The immigration officer will check your passport and stamp it And then you are ready to travel.” Mita, Zara and her parents start filling in the forms C Read the text again and answer the following questions Why is Mita excited? Why aren’t Mita’s parents going with her? What does an immigration officer at the airport? D Write a short composition about your experience of travelling to another place It could be going to your grandparents’/aunt’s/sister’s/brother’s house Write about your preparation before travelling, your experience on the way, e.g launch terminal, railway/bus station, airport, etc Lesson 2: Filling in a form Key words : expire renew visa valid A Read the card and discuss in pairs English For Today B Now read the text about Mita, and fill in the departure card in section A on her behalf Mita’s full name is Mita Sultana Ahmed She was born on May 1998 She got her passport on July 09, 2010 It’s a five - year passport It will expire on June 2015 After that she has to renew her passport Her passport number is AB 9842251 She is going to Thailand by Bangladesh Biman, flight number BG 88 on 14 July 2012 Mita got her visa from the Royal Thai Embassy in Dhaka Her visa number is T 9115138 The visa was issued in Dhaka on 29 June 2012 The visa is valid for three months It will expire on September 27, 2012 It is a tourist visa If you are travelling on a tourist visa, you are not allowed to study or work there C Imagine you are travelling to a foreign country Copy the form in A and fill in with your own information If you have a passport, use information from it If you not have a passport, make your imaginary passport with visa number and expiry date, passport number, date of travel, etc D Work in pairs If you have a passport, tell your partner when you got it and which country/countries you have already visited If you not have a passport, would you like to have one? Why? Lesson : Going through immigration Key words : departure booth counter scan machine readable A Look at the pictures and discuss in pairs Going on a foreign trip Why does a person need a passport? What are those booths for? Why are people standing in a line in front of them? What are the persons doing inside the booth? B Read the text and answer the questions Zara's parents Mrs Jhuma Islam, Mr Mazharul Islam, Zara and Mita, fill in their departure cards and move towards the immigration counter Mita stands in front of one of the booths She hands in her passport and the departure card to the officer The immigration officer goes through Mita's passport, visa and the departure card "Are you travelling alone?" asks the officer "No I'm going with my aunt, uncle and cousin," says Mita "They are right there on that counter." "Is this your first visit to Thailand?" "Yes." "How long are you going to stay there?" "Seven to ten days." "Where are you going to stay?" " In a hotel." The officer is talking as well as going through Mita's papers He finds the papers OK He smiles and stamps her passport The officer keeps the departure card, and returns the passport to Mita "Have a safe journey." "Thanks." Mita waits for her aunt, uncle and Zara on the other side of the immigration Once all of them are done they walk towards the passengers' departure lounge Things that have changed our life 107 E Listen to the teacher/CD carefully and complete the following sentences with appropriate words U9, L2 D Listening text: 10 Shang China lies - the far east of India The Indus and Ganges valley is the middle The Tigris and Euphrates valley lies the Nile and the Indus- Ganges The Ganges flows the north of India The Bay of Bengal is the east coast of India F Discuss in pairs and make as many ‘wh’ questions as you can from the given answers below First one is done for you i) Where does Mesopotamia lie? ii) Which countries does Mesopotamia lie between? Ans Mesopotamia lies between India and Egypt ? Ans The Caspian Sea is on the north of Mesopotamia ? Ans The Nile falls into the Mediterranean Sea ? Ans The river Yangzi lies to the east of India .? Ans The Tigris and Euphrates run on the west of Mesopotamia G Write a paragraph on the history of the wheel Take your cues from the dialogue in section B 108 English For Today Lesson : The fastest wheel on Earth Key words : high-speed record-breaking network expand conventional unconventional magnetic trainset A Look at the pictures of some of the fastest trains on earth and talk about them with your partner Things that have changed our life 109 B Read the text and answer the following questions The TGV The TGV (Train Grande Vitesse, meaning high-speed train) is France's high-speed rail service It started in the 1970s Originally, it was powered by gas turbines But in 1973, the TGV was changed into electric trains The TGV service first started between Paris and Lyon in 1981 Later, the network connected other cities in France with Paris A TGV test train set the world record for the fastest conventional wheeled train on April 2007 It reached the speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 m/h) on the test run But the regular TGV trains operate at the highest speed of 320 km/h (200 m/h) It is the present world record of speed of a conventional commercial train The Bullet Train The Bullet Train is the network of high-speed train service in Japan It started operation in 1964 on a limited route But at present, most major cities of Japan come under the network The Bullet Train runs at a maximum speeds of 300 km/h (186 m/h) It plans to increase speeds up to 320 km/h (199 mph) In 2003, Japan set the world record for unconventional magnetic trainsets In a test run, the speed was 581 km/h (361 mph) But it is not yet in regular commercial operation The High-speed Rail The High-speed Rail service in China started operation on April 18, 2007 Currently China has started building a high-speed passenger rail network It will be similar to French TGV or Japanese Bullet Trains The usual top speed of China’s conventional quick trains is 300 km/h (186 mph) Recently China has set the world record of a speed of 487.3 km/h (303 mph) In 2011, this record was set by an unconventional magnetic trainset called the “Harmony Express” This is the highest speed of an unconventional magnetic trainset in regular commercial operation 110 English For Today C Read the above text in section B again Now discuss with your partner to fill in the blank slots in the following grid with the information about high-speed trains Name of Name of Year of the the introduction/ country train/train start network Top speed Top speed of Holds of unconventional world conventional train record for train D Discuss in groups to decide which of the above three rail services you like best and why Finally write a paragraph and present it in the class Things that have changed our life 111 E Pair work Read the basic information about Bangladesh Railway below Share with your partner and write a composition using the information Name: Bangladesh Railway Headquarters: Dhaka Zones: Eastern and Western Numbers of stations: 459; number of engines: 284; number of passenger carriages: 1,245; number of wagons:1,2948 Total length of railroad: 2,855 kilometres; passengers transported annually: 42 million; total number of employees: 34,168 Nature of present operations: international (Dhaka-Kolkata); inter-city; local F Work in pair Imagine your partner is a railway official and you are a reporter You asked questions and the official gave the above information (section E) in answers Discuss and write what the questions might be For example: What is the official name of our rail service? Where is the headquarters of Bangladesh Railway? Now continue… ………………………………………………….? ……………………………………………………? …………………………………………………….? …………………………………………………….? ……………………………………….… .……? ……………………………………….… .……? 112 English For Today Lesson 4: Taking off Key words: endeavor supersonic speed revolution neither ground (v) sky’s the limit aviation ads website A Look at the picture and discuss with your partner what it is and where you can find it B Read the text and answer the following questions Human beings conquered the distance on earth by discovering wheels They endeavored further Then on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers in America made the first experiment of flying in a plane In the experiment, a machine carried a man and rose above by its own power The machine was called ‘aka airplane’ It flew naturally in a smooth speed, and finally landed without damage That was human being’s first real take-off And now, they have got a supersonic speed In a supersonic speed, something travels faster than sound! So the sky’s the limit now! Modern aircraft companies are making revolutions in aviation technology Boeing as well as Airbus is producing modern passenger airplanes These planes fly very fast Boeing 787 flies 950 km/h However, Airbus 350 is expected to fly in a couple of years Its speed will be 945 km/h You find attractive ads on the websites of both Boeing and Airbus planes Both have excellent features But in speed, neither could beat the Concorde It is the world’s fastest Things that have changed our life 113 supersonic passenger aircraft Its normal speed was 2,170 km/h The Concorde was a joint project by France and Britain It started passenger flight in 1976 Unfortunately, the Concorde fleet was grounded for ever in 2003 after a major accident Questions Who made the first successful experiment in flying an airplane? What was the first flying machine called? What you mean by ‘supersonic’? What was world’s fastest passenger airplane? When was Concorde fleet finally grounded? When is Airbus 350 expected to take off? 114 English For Today Note: The speed of sound, which is approximately 760 miles per hour is called Mach An airplane flying less than Mach or less than 760 miles per hour is traveling at a subsonic speed Faster than Mach or 760 miles per hour would be a supersonic speed D Read the dialogue between the English teacher Mr Ramis and Sohan Then answer the following questions Sohan : Teacher, in the last class we read about modern aircraft There were Boeing 787s, Airbus 350s, Concorde and so on But which one is the best? Which one can we buy for our Biman Bangladesh Airlines? Mr Ramis : A difficult question There are certain things to consider If you think of speed, Concorde flies the fastest To many, it looks the most beautiful But it’s no more in operation Sohan : Between the other two aircraft? Mr Ramis : Well, if you remember, Boeing 787 travels 950 km/h So you see, it’s not as fast as Concorde But it’s faster than Airbus 350 Sohan : Yes teacher I remember Airbus 350 travels 945 km/h It’s km shorter than Boeing 787 Mr Ramis : Nice calculation! But there are other factors too Say, passenger capacity, production cost and many more Airbus 380 now is the largest and can carry more passengers than any other aircraft Authorities have to consider so many Sohan : Yes teacher I understand Complete these statements using the correct form of words in the brackets Airbus 350 is a bit (slow) than Boeing 787 Concorde flew the (fast) among all passenger aircrafts Even sound cannot travel as (fast) as Concorde In supersonic speeds, Concorde flies (high) in the sky than Boeing Things that have changed our life To many, Concorde looks (beautiful) than other passenger aircrafts Airbus A380 is the ………… .…… (large) passanger aircraft in the world now Airbus A380 can carry ……… ………… (many) passengers than Boeing 787 115 E Project Work: Work in groups Suppose, your teacher will buy a mobile hand set Visit in pairs a nearby mobile phone shop Make a list of different models of handset with their price and other features Then discuss with your partner to compare and decide which one will be the best hand set and why Share your findings with other groups Lesson 5: Future aircraft Key words : withstand space base launch detach monitor hypersonic research melting point A Look at the pictures and say what they are Discuss with your partner B Read the news report adapted from the Guardian The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 (Falcon HTV-2) is the fastest plane ever built by human beings It would fly from London to Sydney in less than an hour Supersonic Concorde, by the way, could not fly at such a great speed At the same time it would withstand temperatures of almost 2,000 degree C This temperature is hotter than the melting point of steel 116 English For Today The US Defense Agency will launch the Falcon HTV-2 First, they will set it on the back of a rocket Then they will launch both into the space from an Air Force Base The plan goes like this: engineers will launch the Falcon HTV-2 into the space on the back of a rocket; then they will detach the plane from the rocket; the plane Falcon will fly towards the Earth; engineers will guide and monitor it in its flight The plane would fly in hypersonic speeds of 13,000 mp/h This speed is about 20 times the speed of sound The Falcon was born in 2003 It was born as part of a US military project The project researched and built a special type of plane The researchers wanted that the plane could reach any part of the world in less than an hour They also wanted to use it for any purposes, military or civil The plane was already tested in computer models The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 would be mankind’s dream aircraft in the days to come Questions What is HTV-2? What is the speed of HTV-2? Describe the steps of HTV-2 test flight Why was the HTV-2 developed? Do you think that HTV-2 will be ‘mankind’s dream aircraft’? Why you think so? C Imagine you are a TV reporter You have come to interview the chief engineer of the HTV-2 Launch Project What questions will you ask him/her? Design a short dialogue between yourself and the engineer, and write it Finally act it out in pairs D Listen to the teacher/CD carefully and complete the following sentences with appropriate words U9, L5 D Listening text: 11 Things that have changed our life 117 Thursday's flight will test another of the aircraft The plane is made of composite materials The plane will fly in - speeds In the flight, the body - of the plane could reach 2,000 degree Celsius - will melt at 2000 degree Celsius E The following passage is based on the information in section B Read the text in B again Discuss in pairs and complete the following sentences with will/would, can/could/could not Even Concord - fly as fast as Falcon HTV-2 The news report says: the US Defense Agency - launch the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 into space Scientists expect that the Falcon HTV-2 - fly at 13,000 miles per hour The US military wishes that the Falcon - bomb any part of the world in less than an hour in the future Engineers plan that they - set the Falcon on the back of a rocket to launch it into the distant space F Have you ever dreamt of flying? If yes, write about your dream If no, try to imagine you are flying in a plane Write about your experience If you fly westward in a supersonic plane such as Concorde, you will land several hours before you took off Can you explain how? Lesson : Paper has advanced our life Key words : record paper plunk digital surface of stone bark encyclopedia wood A Look at the picture and say what this is Discuss with your partner 118 English For Today B Read the text and answer the following questions Communication of ideas is at the centre of civilisation It needs written records Most of our records in the modern age are on paper Though writing was invented very early, paper is a more modern invention For long in history, people transferred ideas through speaking and listening Then there came the art of writing But to record thoughts in writing was difficult Writing material was not available People used surface of stone, metal, wood, bark, leaves, etc for writing Those things were not easy to carry Then for ages, people looked for easy writing materials Finally, Paper was invented in China in 105 AD Before paper age, knowledge was very restricted Can you think of that time? There were very few books in the world Maybe, they were written on stone or on heavy wood plunks or on metal sheets Suppose, one page was a heavy stone block So think of a hundred page book! In our age, you can carry the entire world of knowledge in digital form in your laptop bag You can even carry a huge volume of paper encyclopedia But who could produce and carry tons of heavy stone books and documents in those paperless days? In fact, paper has made publication and the spread of knowledge and information easy So you can see how paper has changed our life Questions: How did people transfer ideas before writing was invented? Why did people look for easy writing materials? Why was knowledge very restricted in pre-paper age? Do you think paper has changed our life? Explain why your answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ Where was paper invented and when? C Discuss with your partner and make a list of things other than paper on which we can write in pens, pencils, markers, brushes, paint/pastels etc D Listen to the teacher/CD carefully and complete the following sentences U9, L6 D Listening text: 12 The person who invented paper is a - man He took the bark of a mulberry tree and fibers This knowledge of - was first used in China The word ‘paper’ is not The word ‘paper’ was derived from a kind of Egyptian plant called Things that have changed our life 119 E Look at the following boxes first Listen to the teacher/CD again Then write in the boxes the series of works Ts’ai Lun’ did in making paper First one and the last one are done for you He took the bark of Mulberry tree and bamboo fibre He mixed them He pounded He poured the mixture He let the water He let the thing dry F PROJECT WORK: On weekend, observe how ruti or paratah is made in the kitchen Carefully take notes of each step taken to make it Then back in class, share your notes with your partner/group Finally write how ruti or paratah is made and make a presentation in the class Lesson 7: Contemplation A Look at the picture and discuss in groups these questions: Why is the boy up in the tree? What is he looking at? Guess what he is thinking about B Read the poem and answer the above questions 120 English For Today Contemplation For days and days I’ve climbed a tree A dappled yellow tree And gazed abroad at many things I’ve always wished to see I see the green and gentle fields All bounded in with hedge And shining rivers swimming through The rushes on the edge, And little sheep who play all day I watch them as they run, While far away the roofs of town Are shining in the sun I think it’s very nice to sit So high and look so far -How very large the world can be! How many things there are! John Carpenter Note dappled yellow tree - spotted yellow tree (the leaves may be yellow) gazed abroad - looked around bounded - surrounded hedge - a thick row of bushes swimming through - (the river like a person is swimming through) flowing through rushes - tall plants that grow on the river's edge C Ask and answer these questions Where you think the tree was? What were the four things the poet could see from the tree? Have you ever climbed a tree? If yes, what did you it for? If not, why?